Manuscripts from the Regional Museum in Teplice

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From the collections of the Regional Museum in Teplice, a thematically homogeneous collection of five codices, probably coming from the last third of the 17th century, was digitised in 2019. One of the manuscripts is written in Latin and contains ‘statuta philosophorum incognitorum’ and an unfinished copy of leafs written by the alchemist Michael Sendivogius; the others mostly use French and comprise sets of alchemical, medical, chemical, technical, and other guidelines and procedures. All codices are connected with the stay and activities of the alchemist Bartolomeus Mencelius at the castle in Teplice in the last third of the 17th century, after which they became part of the castle library of the Clary-Aldringen family.

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An interfoliated copy of the printed Kalendář historický [Historical Calendar] by Daniel Adam of Veleslavín from 1590 (shelf mark 503 A 005) from the collections of the Museum of West Bohemia in Pilsen has been made accessible. On the folios attached, historical notes were first written in 1592–1594 by the alderman in Kadaň Adam Bavorovec of Hagenbrück, at the beginning of the 18th century by an unknown burger of Písek, and there are also several later records.

The Library of the Military History Institute in Prague has provided access to another 21 manuscripts from its collection, coming from between the end of the 17th century and the first half of the 20th century. The earliest part is mainly represented by theoretical treatises on military science and fortification technology. The chronicle from the military school in Hranice in Moravia (IIR G 413) comes from the turn of the 20th century. A more homogeneous group is formed by diaries and personal memoirs of the First World War (IIR C 13301, IIR D 3323, IIR F 642).

From the collections of the North Bohemian Museum in Liberec, a group of medieval and modern manuscripts has been digitised. These include mainly liturgical codices. An incompletely preserved gradual and antiphonary (ST 1778, ST 1779) originated in the 15th century. Other fragments (ST 135) come from two different manuscripts. The later of them is a breviary of a Dutch origin (ST 160) while the processional most likely comes from Cologne (ST 13). Items from Bohemia include an urbarium of the villages of Krnsko and Pětikozly (ST 1608) and the genealogy of the family of Jan the elder Vojska of Bogdunčovice and the Tovačov Book (ST 1615).

The Ethnographic Museum and Gallery in Česká Lípa has enriched its digitised collections by one manuscript and several early printed books. The manuscript (RK 74) contains a Latin catalogue of priests and lay brethren of the Augustinian Order by Pachomius Kreybich. The printed books contain mainly prayers and songs printed in the 18th century, but also earlier, different works are represented (sermons, broadside ballads and meditative literature). Based on current knowledge, most of these printed items are unique.

In 2015, the Museum of the Bohemian Paradise in Turnov digitised a binder’s volume of manuscripts songs and occasional prints (HST 3518). Most of them come from the first half of the 18the century. They were written in German and Czech. Many of the extant small prints have been uniquely preserved here.

From the collections of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the CR, v.v.i., a binder’s volume of incunabula and several early printed books have been digitised. The incunabula (shelf mark B 12261) were printed in Cologne in 1497 and 1499, whereas the early printed books come from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain from 1631–1780. They contain a panegyric on Maria Theresa and comprise mainly historical and geographical literature.

A homogeneous set of large liturgical manuscripts – antiphonaries and graduals from the collections of the Strahov Library has been digitised. Individual codices come from the period between the end of the 15th century and the 17th century. The oldest of them is the gradual of Friars Minor DA I 4, probably of Silesian origin, which was later owned by the monastery in Znojmo. Gradual DA I 5 was made directly in the Strahov monastery at the beginning of the 17th century. It was written by the Premonstratensian scribe Jan Václav Šícha and commissioned by the abbot of the Strahov monastery Johann Lohel. The other codices (DA I 1–3) are of foreign origin. Like DA I 5, they are quite richly decorated, but the quality of the illuminations is not considered as high.

The manuscripts of the National Library of the Czech Republic that have recently been made accessible can be divided into three smaller groups. The largest group comes from the old Klementinum collection and includes medieval manuscripts of Czech origin. Their content is quite varied – they comprise theological, medical, astronomical as well as legal works. Manuscript VI.F.17 contains a collection of sermons, compiled by Mikuláš Mníšek, using also some texts of John Hus. Another three digitised codices come from the collections of the former Prague Lobkowicz Library – these are two manuscripts from the 12th–13th centuries acquired from the library of the Premonstratensian monastery in Weissenau and the so-called Heermann’s Rožmberk Chronicle. The smallest is the two-volume anti-Lutheran work Dictionarium Lutheri by Joseph Ernst Barisien.

The Museum of the Brno Region continued in the digitisation of manuscripts from the library of the Benedictine Monastery in Rajhrad. Most of them originated in the Middle Ages and contain theological and preaching works. Yet the digitised items include also a missal of the Diocese of Passau (R 347), a binder’s volume comprising some anti-Hussite texts (R 409), and a collection of poems by Johannes Rosinus from the second half of the 16th century (R 583).

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Manuscriptorium Project

The Manuscriptorium project is creating a virtual research environment providing access to all existing digital documents in the sphere of historic book resources (manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books, maps, charters and other types of documents). These historical resources, otherwise scattered in various digital libraries around the world, are now available under a single digital library interface.